How-To: Make a Doggie Birthday Cake (Happy 1st Birthday, Arya!)

On April 28th, our Husky Arya stopped being a puppy and became 1! It’s hard to believe a year has passed since we got her! Well, actually we took her home sometime in early June but we’ve known her since she was about two weeks old so it feels like we’ve had her all her life! Before we got her, I always thought it was kind of weird how people did all these crazy things for their dogs like throw birthday parties (I recently even saw a doggie wedding) but from the moment we got her I knew we had to do something special for our little baby.

One of our first pictures of Arya!

She’s a Siberian Husky, so true to their nature, she’s very energetic. Those first weeks at home, I’d be lying if I didn’t wonder if we were in way over our heads. If she was allowed the full reign of the house, she would run full speed from one end to the other nonstop. Eventually, we bought a baby gate and kept her in the tiled kitchen where she would be calm and also until we were comfortable with her potty training. Now, I must say she’s calmed down a lot and spends a lot of time taking naps.

One thing that’s not true to her nature though is how friendly she is and how much she loves humans. I had always read huskies were serious and a little stand-offish, but she’s the complete opposite. Whenever we take her for a walk or even down the elevator of our apartment building, she wants to jump and kiss every single person she sees, much to their surprise. If we go to a dog park, she’ll say hi to every human first, before finally settling down to meet the other dogs.

Our original plan was to take her down to Virginia Beach for her birthday because she’s never been (and neither have we!), but then we found out that it’s actually about 5 hours from Arlington and truth be told the weather just wasn’t beachy enough yet (gotta love the fluctuating spring temperatures -_-). Instead, we took her to the Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial,. This is basically a nature trail, but there’s a stone memorial somewhere in the middle of the island with a Teddy Roosevelt statue and some of his quotes and speeches on the surrounding walls. Wasn’t really the most exciting of places but perfect to take your dog out and spend some quality time with nature ;). In the park we gave her a doggy birthday cookie I got for her the previous day, another highlight for her I’m sure. She loves to eat anything that’s not her designated dog food.

Arya enjoying her Birthday cookie.

Then, at home, we had a bunch of fun lighting her candle and cutting her birthday cake. Yes, a doggy birthday cake! I originally got the idea to bake one for her on Pinterest, then did some online research to find the right recipe. I used the recipe on this site. They have a few listed, but I chose the first one, Beef and Bacon cake. I changed it up a little, as I thought it was a little pointless to add baby food beef because it probably tastes as bad as regular dog food to her. So I put a bunch of bacon in it instead. I’ll put my recipe at the bottom of the post. Anyway, Arya loved it, being the little fatty that she is. And I made enough that she had birthday cake after dinner for the rest of the week! Happy Birthday, my little fur ball!

Arya with her homemade doggie Birthday cake!

Bacon Doggie Birthday Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/2 cup to 1 cup of Bacon Bits, depending on how much you love your dog 🙂

Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix the flour and baking soda first, then add the butter, oil, and eggs and stir together until well-mixed. Fold the bacon bits into the mix. Pour it into a greased pan, I used the deep circular disposable ones (20.2cm dia. x 8cm). Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until you stick a knife or a toothpick in the center of the cake and it comes out clean. For the frosting:

Peanut Butter

Whipped Cream Cheese

Mix together some peanut butter and cream cheese, as needed depending on the size of your cake. Make sure to get whipped, as I didn’t realize and it was a pain to stir and later put on the cake. Spread the frosting on the cake after the cake is completely cooled down. Decorate as desired!